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UW Hosts Astronomy Experience for Six Undergraduate Students from Across the Nation

May 30, 2013 — Beginning this week, six undergraduate students from across
America have gathered for 10 weeks to delve into studying astronomy at the
University of Wyoming. And there’s no easing in. Students were scheduled to
gaze at stars through a telescope on their first night.

During their stay, the students will make nightly treks to
observe stars at either the Wyoming Infrared Observatory on Jelm Mountain or Red
Buttes Observatory along U.S. Highway 287; understand what it means to work in
a team environment; learn scientific programming and data analysis; and shore
up their public speaking skills.

“This provides students a firsthand understanding of what it
means to be a scientist,” says Daniel Dale, a professor and chair of UW’s
Department of Physics and Astronomy. “This experience will inform them of what
they want to do for the rest of their lives.”

The educational program is made possible through a three-year,
$200,000 National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates (NSF-REU)
grant UW secured. The grant is designed to provide early college students --
with minimal research experience and little access to observatories -- the
opportunity to learn about astronomy and what skills go into being a scientist.

“These are excellent students, but with not a whole of
research experience,” says Dale, who is the grant’s principal investigator. “We
look for students with an enthusiasm for research in Wyoming, in particular.”

From across the
country

The six students, who arrived on campus May 28, were chosen
from a pool of about 200 who applied from across the nation.

Students, their hometown, year in school, major and
educational institution are as follows:

The visiting students had many reasons for their interest in
this opportunity, but most mentioned this experience provided ample opportunity
to use UW’s observatories and get outdoors in a part of the country most say
they have not seen.

“I was looking for an internship that has a lot of
observing, which this does,” Keller says. “I want to go into astronomy and
research.”

Burke says he has previously been to Wyoming but never
stayed for an extended period.

“The outdoor opportunities seem cool,” he says. “You have a
nice, high-quality telescope here. It
will be nice to do high-quality research.”

Star search

The group will focus on studying binary stars, or stars that
orbit one another, says Chip Kobulnicky, an associate professor of physics and
astronomy, and co-principal investigator of the grant. Specifically, the
students will attempt to measure the following: how fast these stars orbit
around one another; how often massive stars have close companion stars; how
close the companion stars are to the massive stars; and the masses of the
companion stars.

“Are they massive stars? Are they smaller stars? Or, are
they a mix?” Dale says.

These are considered the essential ingredients needed for
theories of massive star formation and to predict the number of explosive
events -- such as supernova and gamma ray bursts -- throughout the universe,
Kobulnicky says.

In addition to gaining observation skills at a major
telescope facility, the students will learn how to use common astronomical
software to reduce spectroscopic data, and learn time-series analysis and
orbital parameter fitting.

Under then-REU program director Ron Canterna, UW operated a
similar program from 1987 to 2008, when Canterna retired and the NSF grant
expired. The Department of Physics and Astronomy revived the program last year
when it was able to secure an NSF-REU grant.

During their stay, the students will receive a weekly
stipend of $450, reside in Crane Hall and eat their meals at Washakie Dining
Center. To culminate their experience, the students will each create their own research
poster, which will be presented at the national meeting of the American
Astronomical Society in Washington, D.C., next January. In addition to covering
their travel to and from Laramie for the summer, the grant also helps to defray
their conference costs, Dale says.

“I like how the university is invested in teaching us to
become good scientists,” Topel says. “They have seminars scheduled on taking
the GRE (Graduate Record Examination), graduate schools and submitting
scientific papers.”

Dale is excited about what UW can offer these students. But,
he admits there are reciprocal benefits to UW, too.

Photo:Six students from colleges and
universities across the nation are on campus for the next 10 weeks to study
astronomy through an NSF-REU grant. From left are Daniel Dale, professor and
chair of UW’s Department of Physics and Astronomy; Katie Lester, Erica Keller,
Emily Rolen, Jamie Burk, James Chapman and Eric Topel.